Headline: What a feeling!  U puck starts 6-0
Publish Date: 11/07/1994
Matthew Cross, Staff Reporter
 
For the first two periods of this weekend's series, St. Cloud State
thought it had control of the Gophers hockey team.
 
Huskies coach Craig Dahl instructed his team to ``play like
champions'' when his team had a 3-1 lead during the second
intermission of Friday's game at Mariucci Arena.
 
But sparked by a rookie, Minnesota was the team that played like
champions, and after Saturday's game, the Gophers were still
undefeated at 6-0.
 
Less than two minutes into the third period, first-year player Mike
Crowley weaved through a veteran St. Cloud State defense and beat
goaltender Brian Leitza to cut the lead to one.
 
Four minutes later, Crowley took a pass from Brian Bonin in St.
Cloud's zone and split the Huskies defense again, this time stopping
10 feet in front of the net.
 
He hesitated, and the 9,411 fans at Mariucci Arena erupted when he
didn't shoot.
 
Instead, he passed to Dave Larson, who quickly shot the puck into the
top-right corner of the net for the tying goal.
 
The Gophers never turned back, scoring two more goals and polishing a
5-3 win.
 
``I bellowed out and (Crowley) was coming down,'' Larson said. ``He
doesn't shoot very often, so I was kind of expecting a pass. I was
just hoping he'd see me.
 
``(Justin) McHugh was wide open on the side and he said he would've
punched me in the face if I had missed it.''
 
Gophers coach Doug Woog is impressed with Crowley's pass-before-shoot
mentality, because most players want to score goals, not get assists.
But Woog would like to see Crowley become more selfish.
 
``(Crowley) has made some great plays,'' Woog said, ``but he has a
propensity to pass a little more than to shoot.
 
``It's obvious he needs to work on his shooting and spend a little
more time getting selfish about that. But he will. One thing about
Crowley is he will continue to work on things that will make him a
better player.''
 
The Gophers used Friday's momentum to earn their third straight sweep
by winning at St. Cloud on Saturday night 5-2.
 
Their 6-0 record to open the season is a drastic turnaround from last
season's 0-5-1 start. And the Gophers have done it with depth.
 
Eight Gophers had two or more points this weekend with Dan
Hendrickson and Brian Bonin leading the way with four apiece.
 
Hendrickson was unaware he would be playing this weekend until 1:30
on Friday afternoon when Woog finalized his lineup. Less than eight
hours later, Hendrickson scored the game-winning goal.
 
The entire series was laden with tension, as the two teams lived up
to their expectations on their way to the penalty box.
 
Both teams averaged over 29 penalty minutes per game (the most in the
WCHA) coming into the series. The teams were relatively calm on
Friday, but it got rowdy on Saturday.
 
The Gophers totaled 39 penalty minutes after a fight between Andy
Brink and St. Cloud's Dan Reimann exploded with only eight seconds
left in the game.
 
Brink was handed a five-minute major for fighting and a game
disqualification.  Reimann got a double-minor for roughing.
 
Woog was furious with the officials after the game, who also gave the
Gophers a bench minor for delay of game when the team decided to
skate around to stay warm.
 
``It was one of those games where the referees infected the game,''
Woog said. ``They were really a factor, but common sense goes a long
way, and in this case it didn't.''
 
However, Woog would not let the penalties take away from a fine
effort and an escalating team temperament.
 
``The attitude of this team is that we know we've got a good defense
and good goaltending,'' Woog said. ``Everything is very positive
right now.''
 
And that's because they're playing like champions.
 
-Carol (whose weekend report is still under construction, more later!)
 
Carol S. White                            BITNET: c-whit@uminn1
University of Minnesota        internet:[log in to unmask]
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(612) 625-8517                                    GO Gophers!!!